Polarity
by ShadowPhoenix101
Summary: A wishing star is still a meteor by nature.


_And thus it turns out that I'm not dead after all!_

_Yes, being undead is different. But that's not important right now._

_Anyway, I have returned with a new computer; I haven't been able to do much here due to my old computer freezing up repeatedly. I've returned with another one-shot! A Skylanders one-shot, no less! For the record, I _can_ write things that aren't Skylanders-related or one-shots. I just haven't posted any of them yet._

_Speaking of the other stories, the data from the old computer hasn't been transferred onto the new one yet, so I won't be able to resume progress on the others until all that gets transferred over. The only reason I was able to post this is because I'd shown it to someone on a forum via the PM system, and I managed to dig it up out of my outbox. I should probably be glad that I save everything I send..._

_This is an experimental one-shot that I came up with and wrote up all in the span of either an hour or an hour and a half (two hours, maybe?). As such, feedback would be _greatly_ appreciated. I know the other one-shot that went through a similar process (Tempest Rainbow Factory) ended up being _riddled_ with purple prose (we can see how that ended) and had to be rewritten from scratch, but I'm hoping this one will be fine._

_Hopefully._

* * *

Skylands was usually windy in the summer. The air currents brushed past blades of grass; those short and near to the ground, and those long, graceful strands that reached up towards the sun. Every one swaying to and fro, all waving in sync to the wind to create a rippling effect. The sunlight shone down, hanging in the sky in places unknown, lighting the isles below in shades of yellow and gold. It was all beautiful…but to one dragon, none was more beautiful than the crystalline angel on the hill.

Bash gazed at the dragoness from afar, too nervous to go any further. How could he? She was an ivory beauty, her purple crystals refracting light like a solidified ocean (or at least that's what he thought it looked like). Every step she took was graceful, and she was just as graceful in battle - and she was also as deadly. Bash also possessed raw power, but he knew he could never be the wonder that Flashwing was. He knew she was far out of his league…and yet, somewhere inside of him, he still held a glimmer of hope. So he was socially awkward. So he probably just came off as a thick-headed rock with legs. Why should any of that matter?

Ever since she crashed to Skylands, Bash had though that maybe, just _maybe_, they could befriend each other. He had a few friends, yes, but they weren't close friends. They weren't the kind you confided to, they weren't the kind with which your best memories came from. Flashwing, on the other hand, could have been different. They were both flightless earth dragons, both lost in a world that they seemed to be outcasts in. Surely she could be that close friend, that equal he'd been searching for?

As he watched his greatest wish stand in the light, an impulse came to his head; he took a step forward, then another, then another. Before he knew it, he was walking over to her.

Before he knew it, he was talking as well.

"Hey Flashwing!"

He internally cringed at the words, growing increasingly nervous as she turned to look at him, her deep brown eyes meeting his. "Oh…" she said, shifting her stance. "Hello…Bash."

He knew it by know. He knew she had a dislike of him from the day she crashed from the sky. Was it how he came off? Did he follow her too much? The thought horrified him - was he a stalker? Did he even know what he was _doing_?

"So, uh, how's the weather?"

Flashwing tilted her head. "Um…it's fine, it's fine." She looked over to some nearby isles, as if…impatient?

"You look really pretty today."

"Thanks," she said flatly. She paused for a moment. "Hey, Bash?"

Bash perked up, both anxious and hopeful. "Yeah?"

"Would you mind, well…leaving me alone for a day? I'm…" she paused, "…not much of a social person," she said, saying the words carefully.

"Oh." Bash's heart sank with a thud. He knew it. He _was_ a stalker. "Okay."

Flashwing's eyes widened. After a few seconds, she went back to a straight face, but Bash couldn't help but feel that she'd expected something else. "Thanks." After another short pause, she walked away, leaping off the edge of the isle, landing on another with all the grace of an acrobat.

Bash looked down at the ground, unsure of what to think anymore. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, turning around, walking away from this hill, his tail dragging behind him.

* * *

The sun hung lower than it did earlier, starting to give off a more gold-hued glow. Bash's hopes were beginning to hang lower as well, as he slowly approached the cliff where it all began.

The geode-like meteor was in the same spot, looking as if it were completely untouched by nature and time. Bash climbed up to the crater's edge, peering down at the fallen wishing star. Wishing stars…should he have wished for something more? Yes, he got to fly, but flight was meaningless without a person to fly with - to him, at least.

He shook his head. Was he being obsessive? What was the difference between obsession and hope? One was negative, one was positive. Was the optimism associated with hope really just an illusion, made to cover up the fact that it was just obsession with things that will never be? What was the point of hoping for a wish to come true if he just drove people away?

One time. He'd do this one last time. After that, if nothing still worked, he'd give up. It wasn't something worth driving everyone else away for.

He placed his two front feet inside the crater's slope, gazing down at the object within.

"Can I have one last chance? With her?" He stood there, feeling broken in the silence. "…Please?"

There he stood for minutes, wondering and waiting. After feeling that it was over, he let out a heavy sigh, dragging himself away from the site of his broken wish.

* * *

Bash was laying down, watching the sun as it followed its path in the sky. Unable to gaze directly at it any longer, he lowered his eyes, resting his head on the ground.

"Bash?"

He recognized her voice.

"Yeah?" he asked, too depressed to turn his head around.

"Bash, are you okay?"

He was silent, confused. When had she ever asked how he was feeling?

"Bashie?"

Deeply puzzled, he swerved his head around, only to be lost even further by what he saw. Flashwing no longer looked the same; the blue of her wings had been replaced by a sun-like gold, and her crystalline protrusions had turned green, almost as if some sort of jade gemstone. Other than the changed colors, she was still the same, but the look in her eyes seemed…different.

She half-skipped over to Bash and stood next to him, lowering her head. "Why are you so sad?"

Bash lowered his eyes. "I thought you wanted to be alone. I…I'm sorry for…following you around." He paused, then looked into her eyes. "Am I a stalker?" he asked, fearing the worst.

Flashwing tilted her head. "Why would you think that?" she asked in curious bewilderment.

Curious as well, Bash stood up, turning to face the dragoness. "Well…" He trailed off. Wasn't it obvious? Had he imagined it? What _was_ he?

Flashwing nudged his head with hers, then stood back and looked at him. "Hey, hey, don't be upset. We can always start off new, right~?" she said cheerily, her eyes and grin both wide.

Bash stared at her. "I…I guess you're right…" Was this really happening? Had the fallen star really granted him a second chance? Could he finally feel as if he were flying with someone, even if only on the inside?

Flashwing's grin grew even wider. "That's the spirit~!" She nudged him with her wing, laughing ever so slightly; he nudged her with his wingless shoulder, and she skipped a few steps away, still looking back at him with those same bright eyes. He took a few steps toward her, and she ran a few feet away. He slowed to a stop, but her expression told him that it was alright. He started walking towards her again, and she walked away, still looking back; gradually, they both began to go faster and faster, until they were both chasing each other around, laughing as they pranced playfully in the golden light of the sun.

"Tag! You're it!" Flashwing piped, as she ran over to Bash and tapped his side with a claw, then dashed past him. He ran after her, going past flowers and streams, hills and trees, feeling as if he really was flying.

She ran around a hill, and as Bash turned the corner, he bumped into her, sending her skidding a few feet due to his bulk. He saw that the path lead to a dead end; clearly she'd been turning around. "Sorry," he said bashfully, giving her a weak smile.

She laughed with him, her voice sounding like heavenly bells of some sort. He ran back towards the middle of the field, catching her off-guard, feeling free. He ran along the side of the island, imagining himself with wings - large and grandiose, almost as wondrous as hers - and she bumped into his side rather hard out of nowhere, sending both of them plummeting off the island's edge.

"Tag!" she giggled.

Bash could only look down in horror at the gaping expanse below, as he fell faster and faster through the evening air. There were no wayward isles to save him, no fellow fliers to bring him back up. There was only Flashwing, his crystalline angel, who circled around him, her flightless wings glittering in the sunlight.

"Hey, it's like we're floating!" She tumbled around through the air, laughing, her eyes still bright. "Isn't this fun~?"

Bash couldn't speak. He could only look at the swiftly-passing clouds, the faraway isles, the beings flying far, far away, with wings of their own, wings he wished more than ever to have.

"Look, Bashie, you can see the sunset!"

He shut his eyes, waiting for the moment that he would wake up. He had to. He was having another dream about Flashwing. Just a dream. Just another hopeful, obsessive, hopeless dream. Things like this didn't happen. Stars didn't grant wishes. Angels didn't become friends with outcasts. Dreams didn't come true. It was a dream. It was a dream.

He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was her.

"_Help!_" he cried to no one, desperate for a resolution. He saw the fallen angel spiral towards him, and he knew that it was over.

"Aw, you're not having fun, are you~? Come on, fly with me!" She took his hands in hers, then spun around with him, laughing as the clouds and the colors spun round and round into a single twisted picture. Bash jerked backwards, breaking her grip, spiraling down into the dimming oblivion.

"That's how you do it! Spin, spin, spin!"

His eyes, having shut themselves from the tumultuous spinning, let themselves open.

A dot below was fast-approaching.

"Come on! Look at the sunset! The view is beautiful from here~!" the jade dragoness sang, moving through the air gracefully, her wings spread wide, as if she were flying rather than guiding her fall. She suddenly heard a loud crack, and swiveled around, noticing the floating islet she'd just fallen past. "Bash?" she called out, looking around, spotting no trace of her friend. "Bashie?"

The sun sank lower and lower, its light growing progressively more dim.

"Come on, Bashie!" she cried out. "You're missing the sunset!"


End file.
